originalcharactersfandomcom-20200213-history
Tad Rawlins
NOTE: This page is not free to edit. Characters are solely owned by ScottyBlue (dA name Ascotia-Bluefleck. Also, Spoilers below.) Thaddeus "Tad" Rawlins was the son of the Stearnsville police cheif's deputy Earl Rawlins. Tad wanted to be a police officer like his father, and was a very honest and open-minded individual as compared to most of the gossipy, prejudiced people of his hometown. When he was about 20, he had just been deputized to work alongside his father when Stearnsville's first homicide in years, the murder of the powerful and influential local businessman Herb Cromarty, occurred. A brawl had broken out at the house of the wealthiest lady in town when some gatecrashers invaded a party, and Tad, Earl, and their neighbor Dr. Richard Gloman heard the commotion and came to try to break it up. During this incident, the half-hidden body of the dead man was discovered by Earl, who sent Tad for the Sheriff. Both Tad and Earl testified to what they had seen the night of the murder, but Tad never felt comfortable with the man who was arrested for the crime, Ross DeAndrea, being named the culprit, even though there was a lot of evidence against him. These suspicions were strengthened by the way the town rushed to hang the condemned before any new evidence could possibly be found or discussed, just because he wasn't a local and was of foreign descent. Unable to ease his conscience about this, Tad, against his father and the Sheriff's wishes, allowed the condemned to speak to his nephew one last time before he was hung. He also briefly considered trying to spring DeAndrea from jail to start a new life elsewhere, but the latter refused to become a fugitive, having made peace with his fate. Tad was the only person besides a couple children who openly believed in DeAndrea's innocence. After the hanging, he expressed this to his father, who was furious at him for suggesting such a thing, terrified it might bring the whole town down on their heads. Tad agreed to never mention it again, but part of his response was heard and noted down by the press. It was never published, though it was found in the old journalists' notebook later by a private investigator; "It might be I'm wrong. in fact it's very likely I'm wrong. But even the judge admitted there's still questions unanswered, and if we do find the answer, I hope for your consciences' sakes it don't point to someone other than this poor man." As it turned out, these words were prophetic. Seventeen years later, after the death of Sherriff Cassius Nutt from cancer, Tad successfully ran for the office of Sheriff . He was contacted by Frankie Hill, who had been a child at the time of the hanging and also "Smelled something rotten in Denmark" about the Cromarty case. Frankie, however, had not kept quiet about his firm belief in DeAndrea's innocence, and had been subsequently run out of town. In exile, Frankie had found out many things to suggest that someone had set the whole crime scene up with the aim of killing and defaming Ross DeAndrea by a trial and hanging. Frankie just needed a confession to seal the deal. Together, he and Tad found and exposed the true culprit, Luke Cromarty, who broke down when he saw everyone knew of his disgrace, and went without protest to jail. The family of the hanged man did not sue, mercifully, and Tad made what restitution he could by giving them 1500 dollars that would have been DeAndrea's in a legacy, had he not been condemned and hanged. Category:In Memory of Frankie Hill Characters